710 tunnel no solution to Alhambra traffic: Letters

Alhambra’s traffic stems not from the lack of a 710 Freeway extension. The traffic is created by the City Council’s irresponsible over-development. Their mega-mixed-use construction primarily on Main Street adds thousands of cars to our surface streets.

By the way, residents from Main Street will have no easy access to a 710 extension because there are no exits for Alhambra. The City Council has converted a large number of single-family houses to multi-unit residences so that instead of two to four cars per family, we have 16 to 24 additional cars added to Alhambra streets for each conversion.

We need only look at the population explosion in Alhambra to see the big picture: In 1980 we had 65,000 residents, in 1990 we had 80,000, and the latest figures show 86,000. This density has lowered our standard of living. The best way to stop Alhambra’s geometric growth and, therefore, quit increasing traffic congestion is to dump the City Council!

— Gloria Valladolid, Alhambra

Home-growing the best and the brightest here

I totally agree with Rod Peyton’s letter (July 10) on the illegal immigrants fleeing poverty and drug wars. Every major city in America, and many small towns, have these same issues yet no one seems concerned about the kids growing up in that misery.

The president is asking Congress for $3.7 billion for housing, food, medical care and schooling, including teaching English, for these illegals. Half the money supposedly will be for “border security.” Call in the National Guard, save some money.

Many coming are teen boys, evident in footage; many are women with kids. Stop with the “little children” myth! When kids are let in, the parents come next, tripling the numbers.

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake stated 90 percent of the illegals never show up for their court hearings. It takes three years or more for a hearing. Churches have started to give sanctuary. How about selling some art and property and sending money and volunteers to Central America to help the people there not here!

Meanwhile people in Detroit have had their water cut off for not paying their bills! I guess those poor are a different kind of poor.

Call your members of Congress. The immigration lobby is doing the same. We’re sick of hearing we are getting the “brightest and best.” Surely we can grow those here.

— Bee Simpson, South Pasadena

Let’s send American volunteers south to help

Some $3.7 billion is proposed to hire more lawyers, build more holding buildings, fund more police and argue for a few years about the thousands of illegal kids swarming our borders from Guatemala.

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How about this instead?

Guatemala has about 42,000 beautiful square miles and about 14 million people. Let’s buy some of the land and build some lovely parks and tourist resorts. Then, with the Citizens Democracy Corps (or its like), we help the people create profitable farms, ranches and small industries, including skill training. We can use about a billion for this.

Then we can bribe the drug dealers with another half billion or so to take their work to another country, hopefully somewhere in the Middle East.

Oh, and pay off the reigning president too. (He can claim it was his idea.)

This leaves about a billion dollars to bring all the kids home to Central America.

Give every Guatemalan a hundred dollars or so to get started, and we would still have some left over for our politicians to use for their re-election campaigns.